Hawaii’s extraordinary run of economic expansion, now in its ninth year, paused briefly earlier this year, according to a new federal estimate that has led state officials to downgrade their annual growth forecast for the local economy.

The state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism on Wednesday issued a report that said Hawaii’s economy should grow 1 percent this year and not by the 1.5 percent it projected in August, following a 1.9 percent growth projection in May.

The half-percentage-point difference for the state’s roughly $90 billion economy amounts to about $450 million.

Still, the fact that Hawaii is maintaining economic growth is good.

“Hawaii’s economy is still expanding,” Luis Salaveria, DBEDT director, said in a statement.

Eugene Tian, the state’s chief economist, said Hawaii’s economy has been in a cycle without contraction for 113 consecutive months, nearing the national record of 120 months.

“It’s a long run,” he said. “We are entering slower growth, but we don’t see a recession yet.”

A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of reduced value for all produced goods and services, otherwise known as gross domestic product, or GDP.

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis estimated in a report last week that Hawaii’s GDP, adjusted for inflation, in the first quarter had zero growth instead of the 1 percent the agency previously estimated, which surprised Tian and led DBEDT to downgrade its forecast for the full year.

According to the federal report, Hawaii’s economy in the second quarter grew by 1 percent, which puts growth for the first half of the year at 0.5 percent.

Hawaii’s economic growth since early 2010 peaked at 3.4 percent in 2015 and has been slowing since then, slipping to 2 percent in 2016 and 1.2 percent last year. The 1 percent growth this year would continue that slower pace. For the next three years, DBEDT forecasts growth of 1.2 percent, 1.4 percent and 1.4 percent.

The average economic growth for the state over the last 30 years is 1.8 percent and includes periods of recession.

Some major drivers of the sustained growth since 2010 include record tourism arrivals and spending, personal income growth and construction.

DBEDT said the value of private building permits is up 4 percent in the first nine months of this year. The agency also noted that government capital improvement project contract awards, 85 percent of which are state projects, are up 39 percent in the same period.

Those state contract awards, which include projects such as airport renovation work, totaled $1.3 billion for the nine-month period. Tian said that compares with an annual average of $1.2 billion.

In the state’s biggest industry, tourism, visitor arrivals during the first nine months of the year hit a record 7.4 million while spending rose 10 percent. DBEDT trimmed its visitor arrival growth projection for the whole year to 5.8 percent from a previous 6.1 percent and reduced its projection for visitor spending growth to 8.9 percent from 9.2 percent.

As for personal income adjusted for inflation, DBEDT now expects this will rise 1.6 percent this year instead of 1.8 percent.

DBEDT did not revise its forecast for inflation, which is expected to be 2 percent this year.

One factor limiting Hawaii’s economic growth is the local labor force. The state’s unemployment rate has averaged 2.2 percent this year through October and is the lowest in Hawaii history for January-October. Hawaii’s rate this year also is the lowest in the nation.

Such a low rate inhibits hiring by employers and therefore hampers business expansion.

“It is so low that it becomes a limiting factor on economic growth,” Tian said. “It is difficult to find labor.”

DBEDT forecasts unemployment will be 2.3 percent for the whole year then edge higher to 2.5 percent next year, 3 percent in 2020 and 3.4 percent in 2021. A 3 percent unemployment rate is generally considered “full employment” by economists.